Sexting is dirty...and half are lies

Teens who sex text more are likely to be having sex, as are teens who just send a bucket load of texts every day, claims new research. What's under debate is whether sex text behavior is a risk behavior or digital teen flirtation.
( Alton )

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Sexters beware. A new study shows that almost half of college students who sent out "sext messages" have lied in their messages. The study shows that many sexters regularly attempt to deceive their sexting partners.

The study was conducted by researchers from Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). The team's findings show that many sexters often misrepresent themselves or their actions in their messages. This could include lying about what they are doing or about the outfits they are wearing.

Michelle Drouin, the study's lead author and one of the researchers from the IUPUI, likened the act of lying during sexting to lying about orgasms during actual sexual intercourse. Because of the prevalence of lying about orgasms between partners, Drouin speculated that the same principle could apply in sexting. The researchers published their findings in the online journal Science Direct.

"In this study, we examined the prevalence of lying during sexting in a sample of 155 young adult college students," said Drouin and her colleagues. "More than one third (37%) of those who had ever had a committed relationship and approximately half (48%) of active sexters (i.e., those who had ever sent a sexual text message) had lied to their committed partners during sexting about what they were wearing, doing, or both."

The researchers collected data from 155 students in an anonymous online survey. All of the students included in the study had admitted to being in at least one committed relationship. Moreover, students had to answer questions about their previous histories related to sexting. The survey showed that 48 percent of the respondents had lied at least once when sending out these sexual text messages.

When asked to answer a question about their reasons for lying during "sexting," the survey respondents were asked to choose between lying for personal reasons, for other people, or neither of the two.

"Most people (67%) lied to serve their partner in some way (e.g., make it better for their partner) but some (33%) lied to serve themselves (e.g., they were bored)," says the study. "Additionally, lying during sexting was much more common among women than men: 45% of women and 24% of men had lied during sexting with committed partners."

As with faking orgasms, women who lied during sexting outnumbered the men significantly. In fact, the number of women who admitted to lying in the process was almost double that of the number of men who also admitted to lying.

"When attachment characteristics were considered, attachment avoidance predicted lying during sexting among active sexters, even after controlling for gender," Douin and her colleagues said. "Therefore, lying during sexting, just like pretending orgasm in a face-to-face context, is more likely to occur among those with insecure attachments to relationship partners."